


The Gauntlet

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [89]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Buffy The Vampire Slayer Fusion, Battle, Demons, Friendship, Gen, Kidnapping, Prompt Fill, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27073222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for Deadly Games prompt:Prodigal Son, Malcolm Bright + any, he's been kidnapped again and knows the team will never let him hear the end of it, if he survives, a big if.In which Malcolm gets kidnapped and Dani comes in for the rescue.
Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [89]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610332
Comments: 9
Kudos: 14
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020, Hurt/Comfort Bingo - Round 11





	The Gauntlet

**Author's Note:**

> Also written for h/c bingo: kidnapping

“We talked about this, Malcolm!” Dani shouted mid-leap.

She executed some kind of fancy kick that took down two demons, but there were more waiting. A whole gauntlet of them, in fact.

“I already said sorry!” Malcolm shouted back. It wasn’t easy to be heard over the noise the demons were making, all whipped up in a frenzy to take down a Slayer.

“You have to be –” Dani did a tuck and roll, and another demon went down. “– more careful! You don’t have super powers!”

Malcolm was well aware of that. And it really wasn’t his fault that he was always in the wrong place at the wrong time. When he saw something curious, he couldn’t help but follow, try to learn more, see what was happening. As his mother was always reminding him, curiosity killed the cat.

He could well imagine the ‘I told you so’ look his mother would give him if she could see his current predicament.

The cage he was in dropped about a foot, and Malcolm’s heart was in his throat, his hands clenched around the bars. Below him was a pit filled with some kind of black, viscous goo.

Malcolm bit back the urge to remind Dani that his time was running out. She was well aware of the stakes. He knew she’d get him out of there if she could.

“Hang in there, Malcolm!” Dani yelled.

“Not funny!” Malcolm yelled back.

His heart was back in his throat when Dani went down and was momentarily hidden from view by scaly, knobby demon bodies. But then several of them went flying over the edge of the pit, landing with wet, sucking splats into the goo, which quickly pulled them under.

The cage shuddered, but only dropped a few inches.

“Dani!”

“I know!”

Sometimes Malcolm wished he had something helpful he could manifest from the demon side of his DNA, which had thus far been completely dormant. As much as he feared being anything other than human, it would be nice to be able to help Dani instead of always being rescued by her.

The cage shuddered again, there was a metallic screech, and then it dropped for real, plummeting straight down toward the goo.

Malcolm closed his eyes and tensed, waiting for impact. Impact didn’t come. The cage jerked to a stop, and when Malcolm opened his eyes he could see the bottom of it was a mere inch from the goo.

He looked up and saw Dani holding on to the cage chain, her face turning red from the exertion of holding him. Even with Slayer powers it was obviously a strain, but she started pulling him up.

“Get your scaly ass over here and help me,” she grunted. 

One of the demons did as requested, adding his strength to hers. Malcolm had a hysterical thought about good sportsmanship, and then he was finally on solid ground again. His legs were shaky, but he managed not to fall down.

“Are you okay?” Dani asked, giving him a critical once-over.

“I’m good.”

“Don’t do that again.” 

Malcolm was so surprised when Dani hugged him that he almost didn’t hug her back.

“I’ll try my best,” he promised.

“Good. Let’s get out of here. I need a shower.”

Malcolm belatedly realized that Dani was covered in a variety of foul-smelling demon fluids. He looked down at his shirt in dismay. How could he hide that from the maid?

“Edrisa can help,” Dani said, seemingly reading his mind. “She knows how to get stains out of anything. We’ll stop by her house first.”

That made sense. Edrisa wanted to be a doctor, and she knew all about biology, and how to break things down. Biologically speaking.

As they headed back topside, Malcolm made a vow to himself to be less reckless. It wasn’t fair to his friends for him to take unnecessary risks.

Someday there’d be a challenge Dani wouldn’t be able to meet.


End file.
